The 2nd session is the most anticipated of all because it’s the most controversial in all the topics, especially, when he mentioned that women should not be a pastors and elders where he quoted 1 Timothy 2:11, they must learn full submission and quietness. One of the highlights of that session is about the role of women they must aligned to God’s design in creation that they should support the men and he also quoted Genesis 3:15 which he specifies the virgin birth as a specific birth and do not pertain to every birth which he link to the book of 1 Timothy 2:15 to drive a point about the role of women in relation to the Biblical order of the church and the Genesis account of creation. He also included Galatians 3:26-29 to correct the misinterpretation to this passage because many ministers are using it to justify that women are allowed by the scriptures to have authority over men. He disagreed with this kind of teaching because Paul is talking about our common salvation in Christ in this passage and not to allow women to have authority over men.
The good thing about this topic however is some of the women who attended the Integrity in Ministry Part I, have already changed their position when it comes to the role of women inside the church, like one former lady pastor who approached us at the registration table while we are listing the names of the delegates that are coming she said” I’m a lay leader in our church and not the pastor anymore” meaning our speaker is an effective motivational speaker basing on the response of that lady and later on with the positive remarks that we have gathered.
Also Session 3 is a fair and exciting session where he talked about Integrity when facing opposition cited in1 Timothy 4:11-16. By letting somebody see the ministry through the testimony of our lives (1 Timothy 4:12 ). In this topic he gave strong emphasis on Understanding what is at Stake (1 Timothy 4:16). That the people under our care are at stake, there is one delegate who asked Pastor Tom if he could share his own experience, because each session the delegates were given opportunity to ask question and so Pastor Tom shared his experienced he told the crowd when he was still new in their church a lady in her middle forty used to run the church until such time he was having a hard time and annoyed by the lady’s attitude. The Lord made a way for him to win her heart she was rushed to the hospital due to hypertension and was confined during her stay in the hospital he would always visits and cared for her. Finally, he is able to win not just her heart but her trust as well so when someone opposes Pastor Tom she was always ready to defend him. They were awed by this testimony and many have become more interested and raised more questions in line herewith.
The Last Session talks about Giving that one of the misunderstanding of the churches today is not part of worship where he gave a very strong emphasis that it is a part and in fact worship in itself some of the passages that he gave to support his claimed are Ephesians 5:2; Exodus 29:18 ; Numbers 15:10. This last session also made a very big contribution in the totality of the conference by where in when were about to wrap up the seminar we ask the delegates if they want Part III of “Integrity in Ministry”, almost all of them raised their hands in one accord. And many are still asking for more, like one pastor ask question by writing it through a piece of paper because they were given since most of them are very bashful, and Pastor Mike (President of CGM) gamely took the microphone to read the question to Pastor Tom anyway the query was, What if the pastor is in the habit of borrowing money from his flock? Pastor Tom and quoted a passage in the book of Proverbs “those who is in the habit of borrowing money is a servant to the lender”
And in that question the last topic ended. In totality the outcome of the conference was very satisfactory. And these can be seen through the following comments that we have gathered:
- One of the best conference speakers I’ve ever heard
-Pastor Ishmael Montero( Cubao Reformed Baptist Church)
- Great Seminar and looking forward to it
- Bro.Randell Santos ( People of Praise Church)
- Very comfortable place, I enjoy it! And the CLAIM books given to us
- Pastor Efren Dolores( The Wesleyan Church)
- Keep up the good work and May the Good Lord Bless you always!!!
- Pastor Ishmael Jiao
- Praise God the topics are relevant to our ministry and Christian Life
-Sis. Rosita E. Habla (Christ Compassion Fellowship)
- God Bless your Ministry abundantly
-Sis.Lolita Chua ( Life Church International)
- I’m blessed continue on, well organized
- Pastor Freddie Dondoyano (Hope Church)
- I pray to have Part III
-Pastor Antonio Nepomuceno (Christ Compassion Ministry)
- Good Seminar/ Interesting
-Pastor Jasmin Gamboa ( Mission Aid Christian Fellowship International)
- More conferences such as this, with Interaction between participants and the Speaker
-Sis. Dolly Lindo (Tondo Jesus Is Alive Christian Fellowship)
Overall the participants rated the conference very good. There were some suggestions
though made how to improve more the conference through the following:
- Provide overflowing coffee especially in the afternoon sessions
- Needed tables for a more comfortable eating
- To have conferences quarterly
- Provide a calendar of activities for a whole year
- Please bring the conference to the different regions of the Philippines
Most of those who attended the conference are composed of Pastors (60%) Full-time Church workers (35%) and the remaining (5%) came from the private sectors. Some of the participants came all the way from the Provinces of Quezon, Bulacan, Cavite and Laguna and different parts of Metro Manila .They were given CLAIM(Christian Literature for Asians In Ministry) books, namely: Embraced by the Cross; Written in Stone; Praying by the Spirit; How to Preach and Teach the Bible. Each of the 149 Delegates present received a copy of the said CLAIM books.
Also they were treated with a light breakfast and a hearty lunch.
The Top Five Suggested topics for next or future conferences are the following:
· How to disciple leaders and others in the church
· Pastoral Care and Biblical Counseling
· Holiness
· Guidelines for teaching and preaching
· Ministry to orphans and widows
The Top Five Suggested Books for consideration:
· Reference/Theology
· Leadership
· Hermeneutics
· Church and Ministry
· Marriage and Family
Prepared and Written By:
Carl Michael S. Suarez (Project CLAIM Representative)